Synopsis: A design checklist for the bathroom with a number of good ideas for integrating fixtures, windows, and doors. Photos show the attractive possibilities that come with careful planning.

It’s one of the first rooms we see in the morning and one of the last rooms we see at night. It’s certainly among the most private rooms in the house, and the finishes, fixtures and mechanical equipment required by even a simple bathroom place it among the most expensive real estate in the house. Given the intimate nature of bathrooms and the frequency with which they are used, I think their design and detailing should also impart a measure of emotional well-being to their users. In this spirit, I offer ten suggestions for making a good bathroom that can enhance some of your everyday experiences.

An entrance transition

Except for the so-called master bath, most bathrooms serve several users and need to be placed in a location central to these users, usually halfway between the private parts of the house and the more public parts. Don’t have a bathroom with multiple-door access.

Instead, create an entrance with a space outside the door — maybe an alcove off the hallway that gives some privacy from the main rooms or circulation area and with a little room inside the door before reaching the bathroom fixtures.

Roomlike proportions

Too many bathrooms are simply hallways with the fixtures lining one side of the hall. It is hard to make a pleasant room of that shape. First, a good room is roughly square or rectangular with length-to-width proportions not exceeding 2:1. In almost every good room, there is a clear central space, a center with smaller spaces like alcoves around the edges. A bathroom can be designed using these principles in miniature. There can easily be a central space that contains the entry, with some elbow room for washing and drying off and with alcoves around the edges for the toilet, the shower or the tub.

A good window

Natural light and a view to the outside are important in the bathroom. Our first understanding of the weather and the general look of the day comes in the window. Ideally, windows are on at least two sides of the room to provide even daylighting. If privacy is an issue, make multiple windows face a courtyard garden, perhaps with an outdoor shower. If you have room for only one window, place it where it illuminates the portion of the room that you see when you enter.

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